Only In the Quiet | Open

[Therru Simmons]

Rain. She liked rain. It was one of the few things in this place that still made any sense to her. Therru had never really gotten used to having such a busy life. While Hammel was suitable for her academic and power training needs it had yet to fill any of her emotional wants needs. She wasn’t good at making friends, because she was so coiled into herself, and the teachers here weren’t like the people at home. The people here were so weird about age boundaries and respect and such other silly things as that. Therru needed to make friends, but someone older than herself. Which had led her to spend an increasing amount of time away from the institute lately. Whether she was wandering in the nearby woods or doing something in town she was away from people her own age.

Which was just as well for the girl. It was becoming increasingly hard to be around anyone her age. Her personality just didn’t seem to mesh with other people. She was too quiet, too reserved, too polite. She couldn’t really even find anything in common to talk about. She didn’t like the music they listened to, didn’t really know about all the recent events that had happened. She felt a little…removed from the whole super structure that was Hammel. So she had decided really to stop trying. Her social skills just weren’t there.

The girl did know that the rain was something that would never betray her, something she could always count on to be the same. Right now it was a warm rain, falling softly across the landscape in a humble, almost musical pattern. Dressed in her usual jeans, long shirt and thick black and white flannel she sat by the lake trying to decide what to do. Right now would be the perfect opportunity to practice her powers. She so grabbed her small bag and moved it under the tree. From her waist a small pouch was detached and set in the bag, and her flip flops were kicked off. Therru didn’t even have to think about how happy the rain made her.

She neared the water’s edge, movements slow as she felt all the little drop become part of the larger body of water. She slowly put both hands in front of her, letting the rain wash away all distractions. The hydrokinetic was already soaked, but somehow it didn’t seem to bother her. Her hands slowly rolled over until there were palms up and she pulled her arms in, bringing a small amount of water with her. It danced and shimmered as droplets hit it, and she carefully twirled it. There wasn’t much else she could do other than make the water gracefully race around her in circles. Joy suffused her wet face, and she didn’t notice the other person approaching, watching her in one of her few happy times.

[Hart Kenney]

Hart hadn't meant[ to get caught in the rain.

Oh, he'd known that rain was predicted, had seen the grey clouds rolling toward him in the distance, but he'd been so sure that he would finish his run before they arrived. But they hadn't, and he was now drenched, hair slick against his forehead and t-shirt clinging to his chest.

This would ordinarily have been the signal to go home and dry off, but just as he was turning into the parking lot he saw a girl at the edge of the lake.

She was young, maybe around Jessica's age, which surely meant she wasn't old enough to be out at the lake by herself in the rain. He of course had no idea what Jessica had been up to all alone.

As he approached he noticed the globe of water she was playing with, which confirmed that not only was she Jessica's age, but she must be attending the same school, as well. He wondered if she knew his niece.

"Hey," He called out, trying to get her attention. "Are you okay? You're getting wet."

As if that wasn't obvious. Right. Try again.

The problem was he could think of absolutely nothing to say to her that didn't make him sound like some sort of creeper. Offering her a ride back to school? Creepy. Asking if she knew his niece? Creepy. Asking if she was lost or alone? Extremely creepy.

Maybe he should have just left her alone.

Too late now.

[Therru Simmons]

Therru let the water swirl around her before she brought it together in a dripping globe above her. She wasn't sure what to do when someone behind her spoke, snapping her concentration. She turned in a lightning movement, her face that of a deer in the headlights. That lasted only for a moment before the ball of water splashed right down on top of her. It flattened her hair and made her completely soaked through, more than she had been a moment before. The joy she had was gone, leaving only slight confusion in it's place. Therru hadn't expected anyone else to be out today.

" I.. I'm well aware I am currently wet." She stuttered slightly, an unusual occurrence for her. She didn't want to seem nervous, but she was slightly just because this was someone she had never seen before. Of course, there were plenty of people in Pilot Ridge she didn't know, so she couldn't say she even came close to knowing everyone. In fact it was the opposite. She really didn't know that many people. The girl sighed and looked at herself, extremely dripping wet. She took one hand and ran it over her arms and legs to push most of the water away from herself, making her a little less wet.

" I am fine." she replied to his initial question, even if it was a little bit late now. " I usually come out in the rain." Therru wasn't sure if she was supposed to continue speaking or if she should be quiet. While the people in Pilot Ridge were good for the most part there were plenty of crazies in the world. Indecision boiled inside. She wanted to continue to practice since she needed it so badly, but wasn't sure if now would be the best time to go back to the school.

[Hart Kenney]

Hart had to admit that her little trick was very neat, and very useful. He wished he could remove the water from his person like that, then maybe he wouldn't worry so much about being out in the rain. As it was, he was much less thrilled with the fact that he was drenched and was going to soak the interior of his car on the way home.

Her trick made her assertion that she came out in the rain often seem believable as more than just the sort of childish fanciful disregard for inclement weather.

"Can't say I'm that fond of the rain myself." He admitted, attempting to wipe rain water out of his face, a losing battle as the water continued to pour from the sky at a pace he couldn't hope to combat. "But if I could dry myself off like that I might tolerate it a bit more."

Her accent was one he couldn't quite place, though he didn't think she sounded like any American dialect he was familiar with. According to his niece there were rather a lot of foreign nationals attending Hammel, so it wouldn't be too surprising if this girl was one of them. He didn't know where she could be from, though.

In any event, since he was talking to her anyway, he felt he owed her some slight introduction, so he added, "Uh, I'm Hart Kenney, by the way. I guess you go to Hammel? My niece goes there, Jessica Pruitte."

And he prayed very, very hard that this girl didn't think he was a total creeper.

[Therru Simmons]

The name he said didn't ring any bells, and neither did the name of the person he claimed was his niece. Of course, the number of people she [didn't] know tended to contribute to general confusion when people started talking. She wasn't a person who reached out and tended to spend more time alone or with a select few people than she did gossiping or such things. She did flash a slow sort of sheepishly shy smile when he mentioned she went to Hammel. Yes, she went there, trying to learn to control her powers. She wanted to make her Father and Oba proud from wherever they looked to her from. At times she felt Hammel was useless in teaching her to control her powers, and that trying to fit in was useless when she was just going to go back to her home, but then she thought of them and that little bit of resolve strengthened. She must stay for them if nothing else.

It it very useful. I have spent most of my life in more outdoor orientated places than the school, so I find being outside easier." The poor man looked very uncomfortable in the wet, so she decided to try something she had been working on. Her little pointer finger twitched in a circle and she imagined a sort of dome where the rain would not go, letting it slip to the side around him. She still wasn't sure what the social rules here were, even after two years/ Why? Mostly because they were so different from the rules she had grown up with and become accustomed to. Her hopes were similar to the hopes she was unaware of in Mr. Kenney: she didn't want to be seen as "one of those creepy freak power people" Of course, there was no way she could stop that happening, but most people didn't know so they only saw a sort of socially awkward girl who was at the lake often.

Water continued to rain on her and she let it, not sure that she could keep two shields going at the same time with the distance between them. She wasn't going to move closer, again because she was unsure of what social conduct expectations should be. Maybe I should ask someone sometime. I'm pretty sure there's someone in town.. She knew there was a psychologist at Hammel who would surely love to answer her questions, but she didn't want to bother him. Not only that, but he was a telepath, and that unnerved her slightly more than she thought she would be able to handle. And although there was the option of mail, or internet mail, she was really very limited in her use of technology and would need help to understand how it would even work.

" I'm Therru Simmons." Did she even consider herself Gilleon anymore? So few called her that. She let the thought slide for a later time.

[Hart Kenney]

"Yeah, I don't think she's made many friends yet," Hart admitted reluctantly, "Jess is a little..." Aloof. "Shy." He wanted her to make more friends, desperately; he hoped that introducing her to Josef's niece Harmony would help.

He watched as she pointed at him, and then suddenly it was as if the rain had dissipated. He could see it sliding down on either side of him, almost as if it were falling off a very large umbrella, but it had ceased to hit him, and that was fantastic.

He gave her a grin at that. "Hey, thanks. Uhhh, Therru. Interesting name." This further cemented in his mind that she probably wasn't American, although still people were known to name their children bizarre things. "Don't think I've heard that name before. Where're you from?"

He was, of course, still drenched, but the lack of rain falling on him at this instance would be a huge help in perhaps drying off faster. However, he still wanted to go back inside, and so he jerked his head in the direction of his car, "Do you need a ride back to school? It's not exactly on my way back but I can make a quick detour."

Yes, that sounded just as creepy now that he said it as it had in his head. He hoped Sloane never, ever found out about this.

He was really not going to just strike up conversations with teenage girls he didn't know ever again.

[Therru Simmons]

He sounded intensely grateful, of which Therru was glad she had at least done something right. Something inside decided that she was okay around this person, so she gathered the few things she had with her and came to stand closer, expanding the rain shield. She told the water on herself to scat, and it immediately all ran into the ground, leaving her dry. One reason she had never had a problem being wet. It would only ever be a few seconds before she would be dry again.

" My name? Uh, I'm not quite sure where it's from. At least, not my middle name." She looked back at the lake for a moment, trying to decide what else to say.
" I...my first name is Gilleon. My mother named me. I lived in Canada until I came here." Her sentences were short and slightly formal, again showing how unsure she really was about how things worked. One thing she did know was that she would appreciate a ride upto the school.

Even though it was only a mile she could feel heavier rain on it's way and wasn't looking forward to traipsing around in that particular cold downpour. Therru nodded her head in response.

" The rain is going to get worse come about ten more minutes. Cold and very hard to see in I 'm thinking." Which was actually more just feeling the water around her than knowing anything special like the weather manipulators did.

[Hart Kenney]

"Canadian." Hart repeated. That certainly explained the accent, though not, as she noted, the name. He felt a little sorry for her; most of what he'd heard about Canada wasn't exactly flattering, and it wasn't therefore a country he would have wanted to live in. He decided it would be wisest to say nothing at all, however; she probably wouldn't appreciate criticism, particularly from someone she'd just met who had never even been to Canada.

"So how do you like Vermont?" She was obviously allowed off campus, so he figured she would have at least some idea of what she thought, if not of Vermont as a whole, at least of the town, which was really faring better economically than the rest of the state.

Apparently Hammel's presence ensured a good deal of monetary flow.

He lead the way back to his car, glad she wasn't running away or giving him looks like she thought he was creepy.

"Sounds bad." He certainly wouldn't want to be caught outside in a deluge, and clearly as much as she was able to manipulate the current amount of rain she didn't either. He wondered if the amount of rain pouring down made a difference to how easily she could play with it.

Fortunately for both of them his car (a not particularly new Ford Escort) was close by. Even more fortunately, the windshield wipers definitely worked, so it would be easier to see driving back to the school than walking.

"Feel free to change the station," He told her as he buckled himself in. It was currently on rock, most of which seemed to be from the nineties, thanks to Jessica. He would content himself with anything she wanted; the ride wouldn't be so long as to drive him insane if she chose something he didn't care for.

[Therru Simmons]

Therru wsn't really away of the whole 'don't get into cars with strangers' idea that was so pounded into people nowadays, so the whole idea didn't bother her as much as it was bothering Hart. Of course, she had no idea what he was thinking so it didn't matter anyway. She followed him to his car nearby, the short silence slightly straining on her social skills.

" I really like Vermont. It reminds me of home. Rolling hills, lots of trees. Plenty of rain. Although it's warmer here for a longer period of time. Where I lived it was very very cold in the winter and the snow was alsmost constant. There were lots of lakes around you see." When he offered to let her mess with the radio she had to look at it for a moment to understand what the many buttons did. Technologically, Therru was a failure. She didn't really like electronic things and always had to ask for help when using them except for a few little things like her music player. [Which she always had to ask on of the staff technopaths to help her with when she wanted music added.] She fiddled with the stations until the came to something with sort of mellow jazz like music. She had immediately passed all the pop music, making a face as she did so.

[Hart Kenney]

"Gosh, and I thought Vermont was cold." Hart laughed. He couldn't imagine living somewhere that was predominantly snow and ice for most of the year, though he supposed that if he had grown up in such conditions it wouldn't have been a problem. He was used to snow during the winter but Seattle still had seasons, and North Carolina had seen panic during snow days.

"It is pretty out here, though," He admitted as he backed out of his parking space. Much prettier than the cities, out here in the wild desolation. It was easy to forget that civilization was only half an hour away. Civilization's closeness had its perks, of course, such as modern medicine, but he certainly didn't mind being away from people like Tiffany. She would have only seen raw materials and money rather than natural beauty.

The music she chose was far from typical for a girl her age; it certainly wasn't the station Jessica would have chosen. It wasn't the station he would have chosen, either, for that matter, but it was relaxing in an elevator music sort of way.

"So you like jazz? You play an instrument or just like to listen?"

[Therru Simmons]

The music rolled out in slow waves, the kind of mellow music she really preferred. There were very few pop songs that she could listen to and enjoy, although she had found a love of the sort of folky style music. She looked outside as the rain started to pour down, much sooner than she had expected. Therru frowned as she deluge rattled against he car.

" I do rather like slower jazz music and instrumental music. I .... I play a small reed pipe. It's not really anything..." She trailed off, not sure what to say. Therru knew she had more of an affinity for people who were past her own age, and it showed sometimes. She never really ta;led to people her own age. The young girl smiled and looked back at Hart.

" I really do appreciate the ride. While I don't think being wet would have mattered too much, being cold would have been unpleasant."

[Hart Kenney]

"Is the pipe reed something they play in jazz? I'm not really well educated about what instruments they use in jazz. The saxophone and the trumpet, that's about all I can think of." He admitted. He hadn't been particularly musically inclined; he listened to it, but he wasn't the type to know tons about it, especially not music that was considered highbrow in contemporary society.

"Does Hammel not have a music program?" That was something he'd never discussed with Jessica. Perhaps he should have. "I used to teach, and students could use school instruments if they couldn't afford their own. Maybe you should look into that?"

He shrugged off her thanks with a hint of embarrassment, "It's not a problem. I can't let someone be caught in the rain." And the way his windshield wipers were struggling to keep his view clear it really was torrential.

He changed lanes, flicking on his blinker as he paused at a left turn. "Being cold would be uncomfortable. It's cold enough up here in Vermont." He commented, momentarily forgetting that she was from much further north.